FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   510   511   512   513   514   515   516   517   518   519   520   521   522   523   524   525   526   527   528   529   530   531   532   533   534  
535   536   537   538   539   540   541   542   543   544   545   546   547   548   549   550   551   552   553   554   555   556   557   558   559   >>   >|  
the time, and had been for some days. I would have let him know what I contemplated doing, only while I felt a strong conviction that the move was going to be successful, yet it might not prove so; and then I would have only added another to the many disappointments he had been suffering for the past three years. But when we started out he saw that we were moving for a purpose, and bidding us Godspeed, remained there to hear the result. The next morning after the capture of Petersburg, I telegraphed Mr. Lincoln asking him to ride out there and see me, while I would await his arrival. I had started all the troops out early in the morning, so that after the National army left Petersburg there was not a soul to be seen, not even an animal in the streets. There was absolutely no one there, except my staff officers and, possibly, a small escort of cavalry. We had selected the piazza of a deserted house, and occupied it until the President arrived. About the first thing that Mr. Lincoln said to me, after warm congratulations for the victory, and thanks both to myself and to the army which had accomplished it, was: "Do you know, general, that I have had a sort of a sneaking idea for some days that you intended to do something like this." Our movements having been successful up to this point, I no longer had any object in concealing from the President all my movements, and the objects I had in view. He remained for some days near City Point, and I communicated with him frequently and fully by telegraph. Mr. Lincoln knew that it had been arranged for Sherman to join me at a fixed time, to co-operate in the destruction of Lee's army. I told him that I had been very anxious to have the Eastern armies vanquish their old enemy who had so long resisted all their repeated and gallant attempts to subdue them or drive them from their capital. The Western armies had been in the main successful until they had conquered all the territory from the Mississippi River to the State of North Carolina, and were now almost ready to knock at the back door of Richmond, asking admittance. I said to him that if the Western armies should be even upon the field, operating against Richmond and Lee, the credit would be given to them for the capture, by politicians and non-combatants from the section of country which those troops hailed from. It might lead to disagreeable bickerings between members of Congress of the East and those of the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   510   511   512   513   514   515   516   517   518   519   520   521   522   523   524   525   526   527   528   529   530   531   532   533   534  
535   536   537   538   539   540   541   542   543   544   545   546   547   548   549   550   551   552   553   554   555   556   557   558   559   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

successful

 
armies
 
Lincoln
 

Richmond

 
troops
 
morning
 

President

 

Petersburg

 
capture
 
started

remained

 

movements

 

Western

 

resisted

 

vanquish

 
Eastern
 
anxious
 

arranged

 

communicated

 

concealing


objects

 

frequently

 

operate

 

destruction

 

telegraph

 

Sherman

 

Carolina

 

politicians

 

combatants

 
credit

operating

 
section
 

country

 

members

 

Congress

 

bickerings

 

disagreeable

 

hailed

 

admittance

 

conquered


territory

 

capital

 

gallant

 

attempts

 

subdue

 

Mississippi

 
object
 

repeated

 

Godspeed

 
result